As even a casual glance at the
Racing Rules of Sailing will show, the word “shall” appears often. That’s not a common word, at least in the
American idiom, but a lot of readers don’t think much about it, assuming that
“shall” is simply a synonym of “will”, preferred for some arcane reason by the
rules writers.
One consequence of this
interpretation is that when race committee chairmen write sailing instructions,
they sometimes simply put “shall” everywhere they normally would have written
“will”. This usually doesn’t cause any
serious harm, but it’s wrong, and I want to set the record straight.
As used in the world of contracts
and specifications, and in our rules, “shall” is compulsory and “will” is
generally either promissory or factual, depending on the context. Here's an example of a hypothetical
specification written by the US Government regarding work to be done by ABC
Contractors:
The project will begin 1
January 2015. Before that date a final
schedule of meetings will be provided to ABC in conformance with
paragraph 3.2.1.4.5 of the Contract. ABC
shall attend those meetings or pay a fine as specified in paragraph
3.2.1.4.6 of the Contract. Additionally,
ABC shall notify the Government in writing at least 10 days in advance
if they will not be able to attend a meeting.
The first “will” is a statement of
fact. The second is a promise by the
Government. In contrast, the “shalls” are
demands made by the Government upon the contractor. The
last clause shows one other use of “will”, in conditional clauses – the
non-attendance is neither mandatory nor factual, just conjectural, but in the
future. Such constructions rarely if
ever come up in sailing instructions, so we will ignore this usage.
Note that the second “will” binds
the Government whereas the “shalls” bind the contractor, ABC. Obviously, it’s critical to know which party
is issuing the specification when choosing whether to use “shall” or “will”.
How does this apply to sailing instructions? Well, sailing instructions are rules issued by race
committees (see rule 90.2(a)), so it’s appropriate to use “will” to describe
anything that is factual or under the control of the race committee and “shall”
for anything that’s under the control of the competitor (but is being limited
by the SIs). Here’s an example:
18 SAFETY REGULATIONS
18.1 A
Safety Checkout Board with tags identifying the competitors will be
placed near the Official Notice Board no later than two hours before the first
race each day. Each competitor shall,
before going on the water each day, remove her tag from the Safety Checkout
Board and shall keep it on her person until she returns to shore. She shall return her tag to the Safety
Checkout Board as soon as reasonably possible after she returns ashore. Failures to obey this instruction may result
in disqualification from the first race of the day, without a hearing, but shall
not be grounds for a protest by a competitor. This changes rules 60.1, 63.1 and A5.
What does this instruction
say? First, it promises competitors that
the Safety Checkout Board with all tags will be placed in a certain place
before a certain time each day. Failure
by the race committee to make this happen could result in a claim for redress,
if it were to affect a competitor’s score through no fault of the competitor. The rest of the SI uses “shall”, which means
the competitor must obey or risk a penalty.
The final sentence carefully uses
the word “may” in referring to a race committee action, rather than “will”
which would be a promise. Suppose the sentence about penalties had said,
"Failures to obey this instruction will result in disqualification
...". In that case if, say, a
competitor didn’t return her tag promptly one day because the string holding
the tag broke and she lost it, and the race committee took pity on her and
didn’t penalize her, they would have been breaking their own rule. That, in turn, might be grounds for redress
for the rest of the fleet. “May” gives
the race committee discretion on how to administer the rule.
So, in writing SIs, remember: “Will” makes a factual statement or commits the race committee to an action (if they don’t do it, a
competitor could obtain redress for the omission), while “shall” commands the
competitor to take an action (if she doesn’t comply she can be disqualified,
unless some other penalty applies).
